From the Future, With Love
by Leiyoi
Summary: AU. Luffy believed that he was just another ordinary resident of Nos Longul. Just a regular joe off the street with no special abilities—such as controlling fires—like his brother. But after a careless mishap of sorts, he suddenly finds himself with the ability to stretch like rubber... across time and into the past. What can he do with such a skill...? Nakamaship-ish!
1. Chapter 1

**AN: This is my favorite story at the moment (so I am more likely to work on this story than the the other stories I have recently uploaded)~ I like it because it deals with being able to cross language and cultural barriers to make bonds with others! Hope you will enjoy it as well…!**

.:.

The doorbell was ringing. A hologram image immediately lit up over the closed door, revealing a slim boy with brown skin and a long nose. He was frowning off towards something on his right and his arms were folded tightly across his chest. As he tapped his index finger against his arm at a gradually quickening pace, his eyebrows began to knit together.

"Oi, Luffy!" The image of the boy now moved to show him pointing animatedly at the camera and staring straight into it with eyes full of annoyance. "Oi—! Stop sleeping!"

The sudden shouts of the familiar voice shook a raven-haired boy from his nap. The boy lazily flung his head back over the rim of the couch seat and struggled to open both eyes at the same time. In a moment, his vision cleared and he stared numbly at the pale door with the image still furiously staring at him.

"Naa?"

_Hi! My name is Monkey D. Luffy...! I currently live in a city called Nos Longul..._

The hologram image made a beeping noise and a small red number glowing in the top right corner of the screen jumped from a six to a seven. The long-nosed boy groaned and slapped a hand to his face.

"Not an MR again... ugh, Luffy...! Get up and open the door! This is probably the sixth or seventh MR already, oi!"

The raven-haired boy blinked once and then continued to watch the face of his friend.

"Usopp...?"

_It's a city that is full of mysterious things. Like the mysterious door images. Or the mysterious buildings that could shift within seconds to accommodate whatever occasion is being held there. And the perfectly flat pedestrian roads, all illuminated by mysterious lights beaming in from several angles. In any case, everything in Nos Longul is a mystery. Even the people._

"Hey, if you don't open the door this instant, I won't be showing you the cool stuff Franky gave me!" The image of Usopp declared grandly and then stared into the camera with one threatening eye. At the phrases, "won't be showing" and "cool stuff", the raven-haired boy blinked again before his eyes grew as round as saucers.

"AHHH—! Cool stuff!" Luffy sprang from his couch and pounced towards the pale door sporting seven new message recordings. "Ahh—! Usopp!" He yelped and hastily slapped a panel on the wall. The door slid open with a gushing sound of air and the boy came face to face with the long-nosed boy, who had his arms crossed again while his eyes were half-lidded and looking back in an unimpressed manner.

"Luffy," he started in a clipped tone, "Do you have any idea how long I was waiting out here?"

"Ahh, sorry, Usopp! Sorry!" Luffy clapped his hands together and bowed apologetically, "You'll still show me what Franky gave you, right? Please? Please? Please?"

Usopp sighed deeply and shook his head. "Didn't I call you ten minutes before coming here? You even answered! How did you fall asleep so fast?"

"Oh, uhh..." The boy scratched his cheek with an index finger, "I was waiting... and staring at the door... and waiting for you to get here..." Usopp raised an eyebrow at him, already predicting the boy's next words.

"... and then I fell asleep."

"You idiot!" Usopp shouted incredulously and smacked Luffy over the head, "Don't fall asleep when your friend is coming over in ten minutes...!"

"Neehee." The raven-haired boy recovered quickly and grinned, "Sorry, Usopp. But I was really excited and didn't get much sleep last night!"

Usopp watched his friend through narrowed eyes. Then, a smile split across his lips. "Hee hee, actually I didn't either." He swiped a finger under his nose, rubbing it back and forth excitedly, and then proudly lifted up a large bag sitting by his feet, "Here it is...! I haven't opened it yet, but I was really tempted to, you know?"

"Whoohoo!" Luffy threw his arms up into the air and ran back into his flat wildly. He hopped into a mess of plastic bags in the middle of the main room—each smelling faintly of sausages, ham, and salami—and started kicking them under the couch to make room for Usopp's bag. "Let's open it!"

The door slid shut in another wheeze of air after Usopp entered. Then, the long-nosed boy raised up the large bag to the lighted ceiling and set it down in the center of the room. Luffy perched himself on the very edge of his couch, watching the ritualistic scene unfold before his shining eyes.

"Urhrm..." Usopp began, clearing his throat carefully. The next second, he tossed his arms out and pointed at the bag dramatically, "Welcome! To the 21st 'Oh my god, I can't believe Franky let us have this stuff!' event of the year! Last month, we saw a collection of fossilized beetles from half a century ago as well as rusty arrowheads made by the Aborigines of our very own country...! We were blessed with a broken robot arm and then gifted with a scrap of a pirates' flag! Whaaaaat—will Franky have in store for us this time...!"

Luffy laughed brightly and clapped his hands together, eyes occasionally flickering to the large bag with eagerness.

_Ah! What I meant by "Even the people"... well, the people in this city are mysterious too. Some of them have special abilities. Not everyone though. I didn't have special abilities yet and Usopp doesn't have any. Franky is half-cyborg, half-human. I guess he's a mysterious person too but that's not what I meant by mysterious. Anyway, these special abilities can make people take care of natural disasters, like absorb wildfires or earthquakes that occur close to our city—that's what my brother, Ace, does! He's with Whitebeard. Oh yeah, and Whitebeard is the guy who started the entire natural disaster control group. There are also other people who can separate things into pieces without touching anything. That's Buggy's ability. He's funny and runs the mechanical dismantling place thing. But he's also a mystery. Such mysterious abilities..._

The long-nosed boy reached into the bag and then rummaged around the insides, twisting his face into funny expressions and trying to illicit as much laughter from his friend as possible. Finally, after screwing up his eyes, he yanked out the first object.

"Tadaa! It's—" Usopp squinted at the label delicately attached to the slightly rusted object in his hands, "—a replica of a twenty-thousand year old sword!" The boy's eyes bulged and he nearly dropped the object, "Woah, wait, what?"

Luffy sprung off the couch and tackled his friend to the ground. The raven-haired boy scrabbled to get his hands on the old sword and Usopp bravely fought to hold the object out of reach.

"H-Hold on a second, Luffy! No need to be so excited, you'll get your turn."

"Aw man, but I want to play with it now." The excitable boy pouted and sat back on the balls of his feet, bouncing impatiently. "Hurry up, Usopp!"

The other boy rolled his eyes and pushed the replicated artifact towards Luffy, "Alright, alright. You can take a look at it first but don't go swinging it around like what you did with the robot arm last time... you nearly stabbed out my eye with the finger!"

"Yay! I'm going first!" The raven-haired boy exclaimed and eagerly extended his arms towards the rusty object.

"Oi... are you listening to me?"

_I don't know why the people of this city have these special abilities. Sometimes these abilities appear at a young age. Other times, these abilities come out at a much later age. Anyway, I mention these mysterious people because... it was only a few moments later that I discovered that I..._

As soon as Luffy's fingers touched the edge of the rusted blade, the boy let out a soft gasp and managed a brief, "Usopp, what—?" before disappearing in a sudden rush of air. The long-nosed boy blinked.

"Luffy...?"

The boy glanced around the room in confusion. A bead of cold sweat started forming on the back of Usopp's neck and he quickly got to his feet.

"Luffy?" He tried a little louder. The boy glanced down at the artifact in his hands only to jump back in shock when he found it missing.

"L-Luffy...?"

… _was also one of them._

.:.

As soon as Luffy felt his fingers around the sharp cold of the old and worn blade, the room immediately sprang to life, stretching out as if the entire space had become something painted onto the surface of a rubber band and then pulled. His feet seemed to be rooted firmly to the floor but the rest of his body and head kept stretching along with the room. He didn't think he could stretch any farther but somehow, his body kept pushing him to.

"Usopp, what's going on?" The boy tried to ask his long-nosed friend but instead of a coherent sentence, what he heard was a strange long and drawn out version of it. Just what was happening right now?

All around him, the colors of white, gray, bright yellow and green were also melding together in such intensities that he could not bear to keep his eyes open any longer.

"Ahhh—! Waaaaah—-!" Luffy screamed into the vivid void of colors and clenched his eyes and fists together, just bracing for the entire sensation to end.

And then it all stopped. The boy popped open his eyes—risking a look at his surroundings—and then gaped at the place he was now in.

Everything was so dark. Only a faded candlelight flickering in the distance shed some contours to the darkness. The faint dripping sound of water wormed its way along moldy stone walls, resonating against the several thick wooden stakes lined up a few inches apart from each other. The stakes seemed to reach towards the ceiling, caging up whatever things were held behind them.

Luffy shivered. This was definitely _**not**_ his flat... In fact, if he thought about it a little more, the stakes looked rather like a prison cell. But rather than thinking about it too much, the curious boy instead decided to ask testily, "Usopp...?"

A sudden deep and low voice murmured back at him harshly, speaking in a fast paced language he could not understand.

WOAH. Okay, whoever this person—male or whatever—was... they were definitely **not**__Usopp. Where the hell was he?

"Eh? Uh, I can't understand you..." Luffy crept towards the wooden cell, where the voice had come from, "Did you just say, 'I just want a cheeseburger'? Actually, I'd like a cheeseburger right now, too. I'm hungry." The person made a grunting noise that seemed to sound like confusion and the raven-haired boy cocked his head to the side in reply, blinking into the cell owlishly.

As his eyes adjusted to the dull lighting, the boy noticed the outlines of a man chained to the back wall of the cell. He could roughly make out the man's hair color—was that really a green or was it just a brown trying to pass off for green in the light? He also recognized the sudden stench that had somehow sunk into the air and into the very pores of his skin. How did he miss that disgustingly thick smell in the first place?

Blood.

It was coming from that man?

Luffy shuffled closer to the cell and scratched at the back of his head. Did someone beat him up and then lock him in here? Suddenly, the man lurched forward a little and the boy verified that the man's hair was indeed green. He noticed the lines of dried blood all over his face. The man's robe-like attire was also stripped with lines of blood, some a dried dark brown and some still a fresh, soaking crimson.

Luffy locked eyes with the man. The steel-green color of his pupils looked back into his own deep brown ones and for a moment, he couldn't think or move. Only one thought reverberated in his mind:

"Woah... cool..."

The man blinked and quirked an eyebrow at him skeptically. Luffy blinked at himself. Whoops, did he say that out loud? A bright grin spread across his face and he chuckled at his slip-up. As the boy continued to smile, the man's eyes narrowed dangerously and a feral smirk flit up the corner of his mouth. He muttered a few more sentences with fast syllables and Luffy's smile faded slightly. He didn't understand what the guy was saying but it didn't seem to sit in his stomach well.

"Umm... I don't know what you're saying but I don't think I like what you're saying."

If the man had understood, he didn't show it.

Luffy pressed his lips together and then sat back on his heels, starting a slow rocking back and forth in front of the prison cell. Would there be something that could help them understand each other...? The boy tilted his head and stared at the wooden cell walls, trying to think of a way to communicate.

He could feel the man's intense gaze on him and he felt several beads of sweat form on the back of his head. Thinking of a way to communicate fast would be a good idea. Yep.

Suddenly, a thought hit him.

"Aha!" Luffy's back straightened from his slouched position—causing the man to jump slightly—and then the boy beamed brightly again. He pointed towards the wooden stake.

"Wood."

The green-haired man stared back at him with a blank face.

"Okay... so that didn't work." Luffy rubbed his chin thoughtfully and then gasped audibly as another thought enlightened his mind. "Oh yeah! I completely forgot to introduce myself!" He sprang into laughter and the man seemed to frown at him with distaste. The boy pointed at himself and shuffled closer towards the cell. "I'm Monkey D. Luffy."

Luffy could almost see a question mark appear over the man's head as he furrowed his eyebrows together in confusion. The boy continued to point at himself.

"Monkey D. Luffy." He added an expectant smile.

The man suddenly sat up a little straighter and raised both eyebrows, "Mon kee... Dee Luu fee?"

Luffy nodded happily and clapped his hands together in elation. "Yeah! That's me...! Neehee."

The man gave him a wide-eyed stare before letting out a snort of laughter. Then, he lifted the index finger of his left hand and managed to point down at himself despite having his arms bound to the wall. His mouth opened and let out a strange rumble of words. The man smirked back, almost as though he were challenging him to a competition.

"Naa?" Luffy paused, trying to catch onto the strange words. Was that the man's name? It sounded like the wheels of those old model trains Franky used to own.

The man shook his head and repeated the rolling sounds again, slightly slower.

"Lolonoazoro?"

The man grinned and fell back against the wall, looking somewhat relaxed and content despite his strange and less than comfortable predicament.

"Lolonoazoro, huh?" Luffy tried the rolling syllables again and smiled at the funny feeling the words gave his tongue. "You have a weird name, Lolonoazoro. Can I just call you Lolo? No, wait that sounds stupid. What about Zoro?" Luffy snickered, which earned him a small, half-hearted glare. The glare quickly shifted to one of smugness though when the man said something again in his deep voice and then added a "Luu Fee" to the end.

"Hey!" Luffy chuckled and pointed a finger at him accusingly, "I might not understand exactly what you're saying but I can tell that you're making fun of me." The man only continued to grin at him smugly. Suddenly, the man's expression changed drastically when his eyes fell on something behind him.

"Oi! —-! —-!" Luffy jumped at the sudden recognition of the 'oi' sound. Huh. So was that something that every language had...? "Oi!" The boy jumped again when the man spoke in a harsher tone. He noticed Zoro point towards something behind him with one foot and the boy glanced over his shoulder.

"What? What? What do you want?" Luffy asked and scanned the floor behind him curiously, wondering what had created such a change in Zoro's behavior. A familiar object caught his eyes and he reached an arm over to pick it up. Huh, so it had come along with him to this place, too?

He turned back to the imprisoned man and lifted up the rusty sword that Usopp had shown him just minutes ago.

"You want this?"

From Zoro's wide-eyed and urgent expression, it seemed like the rusty object was quite important to him. The man licked his lips briefly and then began to shoot off in short, harsh sentences that sounded slightly like questions. Luffy gulped and quickly pushed the old sword into the wooden cell. "Alright! Alright! Here, you can take a look at it...!"

The man immediately clamped his feet over the hilt and pulled it up towards his face. Luffy watched his companion study the sword carefully and noticed the man's eyes dilate and dart back and forth. He watched as the man slowly set the old sword back down. Then, Zoro's head shot towards him, face completely immersed in confusion.

"Uhhh," Luffy scratched his cheek in reply, smiling sheepishly, "Don't ask me about it. I don't know either!"

After another few seconds of silence, the man's facial expression slowly returned to one of calm. But Luffy could notice a determined gleam within the man's eyes. It sent shivers of excitement down his spine. Zoro nodded to him and then gestured with a finger to come closer. The boy smiled and did as he was told, shuffling towards the cell until he could wrap his arms around the wooden bars. The green-haired man then pointed towards the broken sword and stared straight into his eyes.

"Uhh..." Luffy blinked and glanced from Zoro to the sword, "Okay, the sword...?"

The man pointed at the sword again and then lifted up three fingers against the wall. His eyes continued to bore into Luffy.

"Uhh," The raven-haired boy scratched his head and lifted up three fingers, "So... three swords?" He drew a figure of a sword in the air with his hands. Zoro smirked and then pointed towards the flickering candlelight. Luffy blinked. "Light?"

The man seemed to notice his confusion and shook his head, repeating the pointing at the sword, lifting up the three fingers, and then pointing at the candlelight. He nudged his head a few times towards the light and Luffy's eyes widened in sudden understanding.

"Oh! You want me to get you three swords that are over there?" He grinned and sprang up to his feet, "Okay, I'll be right back!" The boy was about to run off enthusiastically when two 'oi!'s stopped him.

"Hm?" He turned back and saw Zoro kick the old blade towards him. The look in the man's eyes seemed to tell him, "You'll need it." Luffy chuckled and bounced over to retrieve the rusted sword. "Thanks!" He sent the man a smile and a quick wave before hopping off again, "I'll be back, Zoro!"

The boy didn't wait for an answer and started padding down the damp stone flooring, heading straight for the corner that the dancing light was coming from. He rest the old sword against his shoulder—tapping out a relaxed beat to walk to—and was about to spring into song when he turned the corner.

A pair of eyes locked with his and he looked back at this person sitting in front of a small wooden table with a candle lit on the surface.

"Ah." Luffy started while scanning the area for the three swords. The person who sat at the table wore robe-like clothes—just like Zoro except cleaner looking—and he also sported something that looked like hard-shelled armor over his torso. The person's mouth fell open and he pointed at him with a shaky finger.

"Ahhh! —-!" Luffy ignored the man's frightened exclamation of foreign words and instead found his eyes drawn towards the three swords lying against the wall behind the table. A wide grin split across his face.

"Oh!" He pounced on the swords and happily gathered the bundle into his arms. "I found 'em, shi shi shi!" The boy was about to turn and walk back to Zoro when the sleek sound of ringing metal met his ears. He felt the sharp tip of something cold cut into his neck threateningly and he gulped.

What...?

This... wasn't good, was it...

"AHHH—!" Luffy immediately screamed, mind racing from the sudden death threat aimed towards him. Where the heck was he again? Why was someone trying to kill him? In a split second, the boy ripped away from the steel blade touching his neck and then ran for it, plummeting down the hall at top speed to get away from the possible killer. "AHHH, I'm gonna DIE!" From the loud shouts and sounds from behind him, it seemed like his killer was hotly pursuing after him. He glanced over his shoulder and let out another scream when he noticed three other men brandishing their swords in his direction. That guy's friends had joined him?

"AHH!" Luffy skidded to a stop at the last cell and noticed Zoro inside, steel-green eyes round in shock. The green-haired man was shouting at him and motioning at him hurriedly. His pursuers were gaining on him. He couldn't stop screaming. With all the noises surrounding him and his anxiety pumping at his blood in such a rapid rate, Luffy did the first thing that occurred to him.

The boy flung the three swords into the cell—at least Zoro would get the swords he wanted—and then turned to lift up the antique sword over his head as a gleam of steel flashed down upon him. He fell onto his bottom, back hitting the wooden bars of the cell, and squeezed his eyes tightly shut, yelling all the way.

Oh! He could already feel the blood spurting out from the two halves of his mangled body! How was he supposed to run away now? And there should be lots of pain soon. But maybe if he managed to keep both halves together with his hands, his blood could glue itself back together...? Wait—

Luffy peeled open his eyes when his surroundings had suddenly grown silent. He stared at the four killer men now taking several steps away from him. Their swords were still drawn but now up in a defensive position.

"Huh?"

He was still a whole piece and not two halves...?

A snort came from behind him and Luffy lifted his head to find Zoro now standing upright, directly behind him. The man had one sword in his mouth and another one drawn in his right hand. A feral grin was rising across his lips. He heard the green-haired man murmur a quick something and 'Luu Fee' through the white hilt in his mouth before moving to draw out his third sword. Luffy watched on in wonder as Zoro drew out the last one. It was pulled out in a such a slow and menacing manner that it felt as though a demon were descending upon them.

Zoro flung an arm out—carving at the air expertly—and the wooden stakes that once imprisoned him suddenly made a cracking noise and gave way. The killer men gasped and shook their weapons at the green-haired swordsman, shouting out several fast syllables. Luffy heard his new friend scoff and then step through the opening in the prison, smirking in a cocky fashion.

The green-haired man growled out a short and clipped phrase before narrowing his eyes at the armored men. Luffy pulled himself up to his feet and inched towards Zoro. He kept his eyes on the four men, muscles tightening in preparation to fight or evade the dangerous blades.

There was a tense silence in which the pair stared down the group of four, both waiting for the other to make the first move.

After another second, one of the men erupted into a loud, drawn-out yell and then rushed at Zoro with his sword, tip aiming directly for the green-haired man's head. In return, the man grinned and brought up his swords in a wide-stance, looking like Death carrying three scythes. At the same time, another armored man screamed at Luffy and rushed towards him with rapid steps. The remaining two men followed behind, each shouting out cries that seemed to rip at Luffy's skin.

"Wah!" Luffy yelped and dove towards Zoro, barely avoiding the thrust of steel aimed for him, "That's dangerous!" Just as his arms wound around the green-haired man's stomach, the boy felt a familiar sensation abruptly seize his surroundings.

The room was stretching.

"This again?" He frowned in frustration, watching as the armored men disappeared and the room continued to stretch upwards. He heard a grunt of confusion respond to him and Luffy's attention snapped towards the man in his arms. He gasped loudly, "Zoro! You're here, too?" Suddenly, instead of stretching upwards, the room seemed to bounce and retract quickly. The movement knocked the breath out of Luffy's lungs and he struggled to regain his bearings.

This was different from the first time. Why did it feel like he was being pulled backwards? Colors of deep black, blue, and bright red stung his eyes as they swirled around him. He could hear Zoro shouting into his ears in that rapid foreign language and he couldn't help but scream as well when the dark colors merged into ones of bright white and yellow.

With a loud air-sucking pop, the two of them found themselves stopped in the center of a bright room, still yelling at the top of their lungs.

"GYAHHHH—-!" A familiar voice joined theirs and they turned to find a long-nosed boy screaming at them hysterically.

Luffy squeezed Zoro in fright, "WAHHH! Usopp?"

"L-L-Luffy?" Usopp returned in confusion, pointing at the raven-haired boy standing beside a strange and dangerous looking man. The trio gradually calmed and at the sharp look from Zoro, Luffy sprang away from his side sheepishly. The boy blinked at the area and then tilted his head to the side, a frown on his face.

"I'm back."

Usopp marched towards Luffy and smacked him over the head for his blunt manner, "Where the hell did you go? You just disappeared into air a few minutes ago! And now you suddenly reappear again, screaming! I just called Franky and he—!" The soft ringing of metal cut him off and Usopp immediately froze, lifting his hands up high in the air as he began to sweat bullets. The boy's eyes darted towards the gleaming blade pressed against his neck and then the pupils wobbled towards the man holding the weapon. "A-And... just exactly w-w-who is _**that**_...?"

Luffy chuckled and hopped beside the green-haired swordsman, who was giving Usopp a deathly and bone-chilling stare.

"This is Zoro. He's my friend!"

"L-Luffy... can you get your 'friend' to stop pointing his sword at me then?"

Luffy's mouth formed an 'o'. "Oh yeah. Naa, Zoro, he's my friend!" He bounced towards Usopp and flung an arm around Usopp's shoulders, "See? Friends. So don't hurt him...!"

The green-haired man didn't seem to be listening. His eyes were jumping from Usopp to Luffy, then to the surroundings; and the more the man looked at, the more his eyebrows seemed to furrow together. He pulled the edge of the blade away from Usopp's throat and then stalked off towards the corners of the room, growling out angry sentences while peering at the strange apparatuses stationed around Luffy's flat.

"Ah, he's going to the kitchen." Luffy observed and scratched his chin thoughtfully, "Maybe he's hungry?"

"Hey..." Usopp gripped his friend's arm tightly and Luffy noticed that the boy's eyes had widened in a look of surprise and wonder, "Where did you find this guy...? His clothes are a mess and... he's... he's...!"

Luffy watched Usopp continue to gaze at the green-haired swordsman and he turned to study the man as well. "Huh? I don't know. He was chained to a wall behind some kind of wooden prison cell."

"W-What?" Usopp spun towards Luffy and gaped at him, wondering why in the hell his friend would free a person behind bars, "Luffy, what were you thinking! And we don't have wooden prison cells in the city! A-Anyway," The long-nosed boy rubbed his temples, "That's not what I wanted to say—Luffy, that guy... he's speaking Ancient Nironese...!"

"Haah?" The raven-haired boy blinked and glanced at Zoro, who was now pointing a sword at his instant microwave. "Ni...?"

"Nironese! It's a language that existed twenty thousand years ago and only a handful of people know it now...!"

"Oh... cool..." Luffy bopped a fist into the middle of his palm and his brown eyes sparkled brightly, "Ah! So you mean Zoro is twenty thousand years old?"

"No! How is that possible!" Usopp shook his head vigorously, "Just... you think maybe...?" The boy rubbed his chin slowly, "You know how your brother has those abilities... do you think that you...?"

"I have them, too?" Luffy's eyes widened at the thought.

"Yeah! And maybe you can teleport...! Or wait—! The wooden prison cells and the ancient language... maybe you..." Usopp knit his eyebrows together as he pulled the pieces together and slowly shared the strange idea he was coming up with, "...can jump through... time?"

"R-Really?" Luffy's mouth fell open. He was rewarded with a skeptical look from Usopp.

"Well, how else would you explain the 'disappearing after touching the replica of a twenty thousand year old sword and then popping back a few minutes later with a man who speaks a twenty thousand year old language'?"

The abrupt crashing noise from the kitchen put a halt to their conversation and they turned their heads to find Zoro glaring down at the instant microwave, which was now split into two halves and emitting occasional sparks of light. Luffy slapped his hands over his cheeks.

"Ahh! My microwave! Usopp! You know that something-nese, right? Tell him not to mess with my kitchen!"

Usopp yelled back indignantly, "I've only heard Nironese spoken by a visiting professor. I can't actually speak it—AHH!" The boy dove behind Luffy when Zoro lifted his gaze to them and began to walk towards them at a steady pace, swords raised slightly. "He's coming! Luffy, you're the one who brought him here—_you_ talk to him!"

Just when they thought things wouldn't get any more hectic, the doorbell rang, accompanied by a loud and nasally voice which erupted when the hologram image flicked on.

"Suuuuuuupaaah—!" A man with bold blue hair and sharp sunglasses posed with his arms pressed together over his head, "Franky is in the house!"

"Hey, it's Franky!" Luffy chortled and then paused. Usopp and Luffy exchanged looks with each other before the raven-haired boy pointed a finger at the door."Wait! Why's Franky here?"

"Oh..." Usopp scratched his cheek sheepishly, "Right, uh... didn't get to tell you. When I called him, he said he'd come over to help figure out where you went. Didn't think he'd get here that fast though..."

The green-haired swordsman whipped his head towards the sudden image that had appeared. He let out a low growl and narrowed his eyes dangerously. Noticing the man's behavior, Usopp immediately gulped and gripped Luffy's shoulder.

"O-Oi! Don't you think your friend is acting a bit—"

And then Zoro lunged towards the image of Franky, swords pulled back for a heavy swing. Before anyone could react, the metallic front door fell into three pieces and burst into a puff of gray smog. Luffy's eyes bulged and Usopp's mouth nearly fell to the ground.

"AHH—-! Franky!"

"Oh my god, the door!"

The clashing sound of metal against metal buzzed through the air and the smoke cleared to the scene of a tense Zoro, his three blades pushing against a pair of thick arms.

"Oi, Usopp!" A slightly irritated voice bellowed from the thinning smoke, "What's the meaning of this?" The blue-haired man grunted out and then raised an eyebrow at the man attacking him. "Ah? You're not Usopp. Who the hell are you? Weird clothes..."

Zoro was also giving the man's choice of a speedo and unbuttoned T-shirt a strange look.

"Franky!" Usopp wiped at the sweat forming on his brow, "Whew, you're okay..."

"Oi, Franky!" Luffy pointed at the cyborg man, "Don't attack Zoro, he's my friend!"

"Haah?" The man with blue hair frowned, "I didn't attack him. He came at me on his own—who is this guy anyway? Never seen him around...wait..." The man whipped his head towards the raven haired boy and gasped, "LUFFY!"

"Yeah?" The boy blinked in return.

"You're here...!"

"Uhh... yeah."

Franky's eyes began to water and he pulled an arm away to rub violently at his eyes. His lips trembled as he cried, "Thank goodness. When Usopp called and said you'd disappeared I thought our days of friendship would never come back! I'm so happy I could cry! But I'm not crying!"

Zoro inched back slightly, wary of the crying man in front of him, and he watched on with a mixed look of mild disgust and great confusion. Luffy and Usopp, on the other hand, stared at each other for a second before inquiring curiously.

"Huh?"

"Wait, why would your days of friendship with Luffy never come back?"

Franky paused and looked up at them. "Hn? Oh. Well I accidentally mixed in the real artifact and from what you said about Luffy's situation, it sounded like the sword was cursed or something and took Luffy away."

"W-Wha—! Y-You mean... I got to hold a _real_ twenty-thousand year old sword...?" Usopp's eyes bulged and Luffy gasped.

"Wow! I was holding a real sword? So cool!"

Franky gave them a roguish grin, "Yeah. Pretty super stuff, ah? I still have the replica in my office so I'll let you guys have it later. But I'm gonna need to take back the real thing to the department."

"Oh... oh yeah." Luffy lifted up the hand that still held the rusted sword and smiled at it, "Well, it helped me a lot back there so... thank you, Sword! I'm going to give you back now." He bounded past Zoro towards Franky and was about to pass it over when Zoro's eyes suddenly widened and he pointed his swords towards Franky menacingly again. A few quick and foreign sounds erupted from him and his mouth was set in a deep scowl.

"What's his problem...?" Franky rubbed the back of his neck and looked the man over from head to toe. "Who the hell is he anyway? You still haven't told me. And why does it sound like he's speaking another language? An illegal immigrant?"

"Ah, that's Zoro. He's my friend that I picked up a while ago and brought back here through a mysterious warping-stretching thing. He saved my life." Luffy explained, ignoring the blank look on Franky's face and the dead pan stare from Usopp, "Anyway, I think this sword is important to him..." He continued, remembering back to the urgent expression Zoro had on his face when he had seen the broken sword for the first time, "I think he wants it."

Franky snorted, "Well, I don't really care if he wants it or not. It ain't my business and I need to take it back to... wait a second...!" His eyes shot towards the sword Zoro was pointing towards him and then he grabbed Luffy's hand over, lifting it up to observe the rusted blade and darkened hilt. The room fell into a tense silence. After several seconds, Franky finally released the hand. He moved a finger to lift up the sunglasses on his face and then stared dumbly at the green haired man before him. His eyes were round and wide and a bubble of snot was threatening to fall from his nose.

"Franky?" Luffy waved a hand in front of the stunned blue haired cyborg, "What's wrong with you?"

"It's..." Franky finally managed to wheeze out, "...it's the same one..."

Usopp gasped, "I knew it! Luffy, you _did_ go to the past...!"

"So I did?"

Franky rubbed his chin slowly, "So when you disappeared, you were actually jumping to that guy's time... is that it? Because you touched his sword from this time?"

Usopp nodded along, "It seems to be like that."

Luffy glanced from between his two friends as they spoke. Then, he pouted.

"Does this mean I'll be jumping into the past every time I touch something...?" The vortex of colors and the strange stretching feeling wasn't something he wanted to see or feel too often. Then again... if he could keep going into the past, maybe he could keep eating the same pieces of delicious meats over and over again...! That didn't sound too bad...

"That might happen..." Usopp muttered thoughtfully, "We'll need to test it out."

"Anyway, fellas, now that Luffy's fine," Franky jabbed a finger towards Zoro, who in turn sent back a sharp glare like a cornered beast, "What do we do about this ancient guy? He's probably completely disoriented and confused about what's going on around him. Not to mention he looks like he really needs a shower..."

"Ah." Luffy voiced and they eyed the green haired man's robes. They looked more like dirtied rags than robes and the various cuts and lines of blood along the hems and across the front and back looked as though it had been put partly into a meat grinder.

Luffy hopped towards Zoro, who flinched in return and gave the enthusiastic boy an incredulous look. Ignoring the look, Luffy promptly hooked his hands onto Zoro's robes and began pulling the larger male towards the hallway straight across from his front door.

"Let's go, Zoro! Time to take a shower, neehee! Maybe a bath, too. Those feel nice." He chirped happily and sent the swordsman a reassuring smile. The man still wore the look of incredulity on his face and he struggled at first to pull back. But after seeing Luffy's infectious smile he let out a sigh and followed after the boy wearily.

"Wow, he's had it rough back then..." Franky whistled at the sight of the man's back as they went down the corridor and into a door on the left. Usopp nodded and crossed his arms over his chest, adding a low-voiced, "Luffy said he found him chained to a wall in some prison-like place. I wonder what kind of guy he was...?"

Franky grinned. "Must've been a dangerous guy, ah?"

"D-Don't joke about that kind of stuff..." Usopp's knees shook and he sent an accusing glare towards the burly cyborg. "What if he decides to kill us?"

The blue haired man struck a pose and began to tap his foot to a dance beat, "Let's just see him try. When it comes to metal, I won't lose. Especially since today... I am feeling very... mmmmmmmhh..." He bent down and rolled his arms rapidly before flashing a supreme pose. "...SUPAAAAH—!"

Usopp sighed and shuffled towards the kitchen, "Anyway, let's figure out how to test out Luffy's new ability. And maybe even better, find out how to send the Nironese guy back to his time..."

.:.

**4-koma (writer's version) omake:**

"Ta-da! This is the all purpose room! I set it on the bathroom setting now. That's the shower!" Luffy grins and gestures to a section in the white tiled bathroom where there is a large spout hanging down from the ceiling. Another smaller spout is attached to the wall beside a panel of colorful translucent buttons.

"You see this wall, Zoro?" Luffy pokes at the buttons on the wall and sends a smile towards the green haired man, "When you touch it like this, water will come out. See?" Zoro observes with a look of slight wonder when warm water gushes down from the spout on the ceiling.

"Okay, now let's get you cleaned up!" Luffy grabs the front of Zoro's robes and pulls them apart, exposing the man's bare chest and strong shoulders.

Zoro slams a fist into Luffy's head, looking flustered, and yells out several angry syllables while pulling his robes back up. Luffy yelps back in pain, clutching his head and fighting back a tear from his eye, "Ow! But I'm just helping you...!"

.:.


	2. Chapter 2

.:.

The doorbell was ringing again. The males lazing about in the center of the living room turned to the open doorway, each chewing listlessly at a piece of charred meat they had prepared in Luffy's dusty kitchen. Their eyes immediately lit up when a blue-haired girl peered into the room hesitantly.

"I see... so that's what you meant by the door being open..." She eyed the remains of the metallic door and sent them a slightly perturbed smile, "Shouldn't you ask Mr. Minatomo to come by soon and fix it up for you...?"

"Vivi!" A chorus of joyous cries burst forth and three of the males scrambled to get to their feet and reach the doorway. The remaining green-haired man, who was now wrapped in various bandages and clothed in a baggy blue T-shirt and black sweatpants, continued to chew at his meal. Only the slight turning of his head gave away his curiosity of the new person entering the room.

"Vivi! You brought food, right? Food?" Luffy pounced in front of the young girl and grinned expectantly. The girl stifled a laugh and nodded, pushing a button on her watch. A large sack of homemade lunches emerged from the watch and fell into the room with a soft _plumf!_ and the raven haired boy drooled at the sight, instinctively lunging towards the buttery-smelling bag. But he was shortly cut off by Usopp's hand on the back of his collar.

"O-Oi! Shouldn't you be welcoming her into the house first?"

"Of course she's welcome, stupid!" Luffy whipped his head towards the long-nosed boy with a look of frustration over his face, "My friends are always welcome! Let me go!"

"It's common courtesy and manners, idiot!" Usopp argued and kept his hold on Luffy's collar, "Vivi's a lady, you know? A lady! She wouldn't just enter someone else's place without their permission...!"

Franky ignored the small scuffle ensuing between the two boys and sent a grin at the young girl, "So, you were able to find some old items from your house?"

"Ah, Franky, it's been a while!" Vivi smiled and then pulled forward a large rolling bag, "Yes, I brought them. Hopefully they'll help Luffy's situation..." She stepped into the flat, rolling the bag along into the room, and Franky followed after, still grinning.

"Oh, they'll be good for sure. I remember seeing some super stuff at your place stocked away. Here, let me take those from you." He offered to hold the bag for her and Vivi passed the handle over, smiling graciously. The green-haired man was still staring at her from the center of the living room and she paused to turn her attention towards the silent man.

"Ah... he is the...?"

"Yeah, Luffy brought him over from the past."

"Ahh..." Vivi smiled at the man and gave him a small wave. The man blinked and then continued to give her a scrutinizing gaze. She giggled at the reaction, "It seems like Luffy has gotten quite a strange ability..."

Franky snorted, "Tell me about it..."

"Vivi!" Luffy's sudden shout caused the pair to jump and made the green-haired foreigner direct his eyes towards the energetic boy instead, "This is Zoro. He has swords! And Zoro, look! Vivi brought lunch boxes over from her place! They're really good." The boy pounced over one of the chairs and shoved an open lunch box under the man's nose. The green-haired man flinched in response and then sent Luffy a small scowl before inspecting the contents of the rectangular box.

"You think he'll like the food we have in our time period?" Usopp sidled up beside Franky and Vivi, already spooning his way into a lunch box, and observed the actions between Luffy and Zoro.

"Oh," Luffy gasped as he saw his new friend reaching for a piece of the food within the lunch box curiously. The boy immediately pulled the lunch box away and pouted, "Hey! This is mine, Zoro. If you want some you should get your own...!"

"Oi, oi..." The trio of onlookers gave their raven-haired friend a deadpan stare. Feeling their looks boring into his head, Luffy gulped and timidly moved towards Zoro.

"Well... I guess one piece is okay..." He mumbled reluctantly and picked up one of the smaller bits of meat, "Here, you can have this one." Zoro raised an eyebrow at Luffy's sudden change in actions and then sent an amused glance towards the trio standing outside the ring of chairs forming the living room. The man grunted a short string of sounds—which elicited an excited, "I just understood that! He said, 'Thanks'! This is so cool!" from Usopp—and then took the piece of meat from Luffy. He popped the bit of food into his mouth and chewed on it tentatively. The others watched on in anticipation. For another few seconds, Zoro continued to chew. And then the man's eyes widened as though he had been struck by lightning. They all held their breaths and the room was perfectly still. Then, a cheerful smile spread across the man's lips and he hummed another string of syllables.

"Ohh...! Zoro likes it!" Luffy grinned and clapped his hands together over his head, "Told you it was good, right?" The boy grabbed the man's arm and attempted to pull him towards the large sack of lunch boxes, "There's more over there if you want!"

Usopp stared at the swordsman in disbelief, watching as the man let himself be pulled towards the bag of food by Luffy, "I didn't think he could smile like that..."

Vivi giggled and clasped her hands behind her back, "Well, I'm glad he likes it. Terracota would be happy to hear that her cooking was appreciated by someone from the past, too."

"Alright, alright, now why don't we get to business while we fill up our stomachs?" Franky moved Vivi's bag to the center of the living room and set it down on its back, "I'm opening it, Vivi. I want to start doing the tests with Luffy right away."

Usopp joined the cyborg in the living room and sat down on the stained red couch. His eyes flickered towards the medium-sized baggage and he nodded in agreement, "The more we understand Luffy's new abilities, the better off we are... right?"

Franky smirked. "Exactly."

Vivi nodded and walked towards them, eyes twinkling slightly under the lighted ceiling. "Go ahead then. My family gathered quite a few interesting things, ehe..." She smiled at them and received warm smiles in return.

"But where's the 'main character'? Hey, Luffy," Franky called towards the person whom all their efforts were for, "We're opening it—OI, what do you think you're doing!"

Usopp and Franky's eyes bugged from their heads when they noticed the boy nonchalantly sitting in front of the living room wall, watching the beginnings of a cartoon with Zoro. In each of their hands were new lunch boxes that were already half-empty.

"Hn?" Luffy answered, a handful of food halfway to his mouth, "Can't you see? I'm watching TV with Zoro. Na, Zoro?"

The green-haired swordsman nodded in response and the two continued to eat and watch the cartoon show together.

Usopp cupped a hand over his mouth and leaned towards Vivi, "This is strange... Zoro doesn't understand what we're saying, right? Why does it seem like he understands whatever Luffy says? Maybe they're telepathic or something?"

Vivi stifled a laugh at the long-nosed boy's speculations and whispered back, "Perhaps they share the same sort of mind-set...?"

Franky drawled, "You mean they're both equally stupid?" Vivi and Usopp clapped their hands over their mouths, cheeks puffing out as they managed to hold back their graceless snorts of laughter.

"Anyway, whatever," Franky brushed a hand over his hair to smooth in a strand of hair that had gone loose, "Let's just start without him then..." The two watched him expectantly and he couldn't help but strike a pose under the combined looks. Usopp sighed as the blue-haired cyborg became carried away by his performance and he gestured to Vivi instead.

"Uhh... why don't you do the honors instead...? It's your family's stuff after all."

Vivi laughed, "It doesn't really matter but sure, I'll open it then..."

After pressing a finger to the button on the top side of the bag, the device immediately started to shudder and wheeze like an old steam machine. Then, the baggage split in half and the top part popped open. A bright blue light lit up from within the case and several layers of items whirred out from the case automatically.

Usopp grinned and watched the layers settle out into a flat table-like structure. "Haha, I never get bored of watching people open the new HX-7 bags...!"

Franky immediately paused in his dance and he inspected the artifacts laid out over the baggage eagerly. "Huh, there's some really super stuff here..."

There were several different articles spread out over the blue-lighted table layers. A few necklaces and amulets, glittering golden and silvery blue from the light, lay neatly tucked within small translucent pouches and were strapped down to the layer securely. On several other layers were articles of clothing neatly folded beside each other. One particularly lacy and ribbon-covered dress stood out from the rest, puffing out and unable to be tamed back into the baggage. On another corner were several pieces of metal strapped onto the layer; some were old and rusted, others neatly polished and glowing from the blue back-lighting. Pieces of stone, shell, and wood also sat among the various artifacts.

There was a sound of clattering and the trio turned to see Luffy's now empty lunch box lying on its side, abandoned. The raven-haired boy gaped at them, hands weakly shaking and still in the position of holding his lunch box.

"Y-You guys... opened the bag without me...?"

Franky rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest unmercifully. "You should've been paying more attention. Instead of watching TV."

Luffy pouted at his friend's cold words. Then he brightened as a thought hit him. The boy immediately pounced over to the center of the living room, hands extended greedily, "Fine then, I'll at least get to touch the things first...!"

"W-Wait, Luffy! I don't think that's such a good idea since you might go—" Usopp began holding up his hands defensively as the the raven-haired boy suddenly reached for one of the items.

"Ah? What the hell is this, Vivi?" Luffy moved to pluck up the puffy cream and reddish dress sticking out conspicuously from the others, "Why did you bring us a dre—? Uh oh... I think it's—"

And suddenly, Luffy and the dress had disappeared in a small rush of air.

"—to some... time period... again..." Usopp ended lamely and then hung his head to the side. "That. Idiot."

Vivi had her hands over her mouth in shock as she witnessed Luffy's vanishing act.

Franky frowned and turned to Vivi with a wary eye. "That dress... do you know where it was from? I'm not too good when it comes to figuring out times for clothing..."

"I-It's..." Vivi began softly and then paused to clear her throat. She began again with a slightly worried smile, "Ah, my mother received it from a distant relative living in Yinnan... I believe it was from... the Pictorian era?"

Usopp raised an eyebrow, thinking back to the translated literature he had read from that overly elaborate time period. "Seriously? Luffy's gone to the Pictorian era now...?" His impression of the period was something similar to the feeling of being very... 'lacy'...

Franky let out a small sigh and shook his head, "Pictorian era, huh..." He smirked and studied over the other artifacts carefully, already searching for the next artifact to test on Luffy, "Well, it shouldn't be dangerous as long as he doesn't draw too much attention... on the plus side, we got to confirm Luffy's abilities, too."

"Yeah..."

"Let's just hope he doesn't bring someone back again..."

"Yeah..." The trio glanced towards the person who did not belong in their time era and then held back snickers of laughter.

Zoro—who had been ignored for all this time—was sitting sound asleep against one of the soft chairs with his three swords propped against one shoulder. His cleanly emptied lunchbox lay on the ground a few inches away from his thigh.

"Well, it's good to see that he's getting well-accustomed to this place." Vivi smiled and watched the green-haired man let out a loud snore.

Usopp sighed. "Except for those swords..."

Franky shrugged at them and lifted himself up from the floor, "I'm gonna get a cola for myself while we wait for Luffy. You guys want any?"

"Yes, please."

"Yeah, I'll have one. Thanks!"

As Franky left for the kitchen, a discarded piece of paper on the fluffy, cream-colored rug, which carpeted more than half the room, caught Usopp's eye. He reached over to pick it up. The paper was folded into fourths and yellowed to an almost brownish degree. But it was still in relatively good condition despite how old it looked; there were not many tears or holes in it. The long-nosed boy delicately unfolded the page and Vivi tilted her head over, noticing the boy's attention caught by something new.

"What's that, Usopp?" She asked and peered over his arm. "Ah! That's...!"

Usopp's eyes were round in surprise as he studied the faint ink lines left on the paper, "It's Pictorian..."

Vivi's hand flew to her mouth again as she continued to look at the beautiful script on the page. "But... where did this come from...?"

Usopp stood up slowly and Vivi followed him, watching his eyes begin to narrow with determination.

"I don't know but... maybe we'll find out after we translate it."

.:.

When his hands touched the soft and ruffled fabric, his surroundings immediately reacted, springing into a tide of movement. It was stretching again. It really reminded him of a rubber band...

"Uh oh..."

Why did he get such a weird ability...?

"I think it's starting again...!" Luffy tried to voice but there was already no one around him besides the colors and the dress he had in his hands. He gulped nervously, eyes darting from left to right.

Oh man, where was he going this time...?

The boy clutched the dress tightly against him as he felt his body being pulled in some direction against his will and he clenched his eyes shut, not wanting to be overwhelmed by the whirl of colors for a third time.

Hopefully he wasn't going to a scary place like the one where he had found Zoro... he really didn't want to be chased by people wielding swords again. Especially since he only had a dress this time to protect himself. Then again, he might also end up in a really cool place...! His blood pulsed fervently through his veins at that thought.

He smiled when he felt a slightly familiar halting sensation in his gut and immediately, he noticed the sounds of muffled murmuring from men and women a fair distance away. It was a welcome change from the strange roaring silence he received whenever he jumped through time. Opening his eyes with a snap, Luffy gasped as he stared at the new surroundings. His heart fluttered with excitement.

He was standing in a dimly lit room and the smell of fragrant wood mixed with smoky incense assaulted his senses. Several yards away from him stood the walls, all covered in elaborate bronze-colored wallpaper and painted with golden flowers winding and weaving together. The walls stretched far back; it went so far back that the end of the enormous room had been left to fade into the darkness, unlit by soft candles unlike the ones that were hanging on the brass candle holders nearby.

"Woahoh—!" Luffy giggled at the grand sight and leaped around on the dark tiled floor. Behind him was a wooden door that had been decorated in beautifully carved flower patterns. The door knob itself was made of a pale ivory ceramic and painted with several colorful lily patterns. Above him, the ceiling stretched upward like a small cathedral and he noticed several paintings pasted to the cream-colored ceiling. The paintings looked as though they were moving from the occasional wavering of the candle light.

"This place is crazy!" He laughed to himself, "So big and full of tacky flowers, shi shi!"

A soft tapping sound caused him to freeze and he whipped his head in the direction he had heard it come from.

Oh shit... someone was there...?

The tapping was coming from the shadows of the room. He gulped and felt a bead of cold sweat roll down from his neck to his collar bone.

"Uh... who's there?" He managed to say bravely and he squinted into the darkness as though it would help him see better. The tapping sound was louder now and came at a faster pace. Luffy took a step back, holding up the dress in his hands to ready himself for an attack. Soon the tapping began to sound more like fervent footsteps and he finally saw the outline of someone emerge. He heard a soft and curious voice speak at him with words that were like lilting cursive letters and he blushed slightly at the pleasant sound. The voice belonged to a young girl with long and straight black hair and Luffy noticed with a jolt that she was wearing the same dress he held in his hands.

"Ah!" He pointed at her, "So this dress is yours?"

The girl cocked her head to the side, eyebrows knit together in mild confusion. Then she tentatively took a step forward, murmuring another string of curving words and lifted a small porcelain hand up to touch one of the ribbons on Luffy's dress. Her eyes widened slightly and she lifted her dark brown eyes up to inspect him curiously.

Luffy grinned back cheerily. "So it's yours, right?"

The sudden calling of voices in the distance caused the young girl's hand to jump up and clutch onto her other arm. She backed away into the shadows again warily and Luffy could see her hands trembling as she began to fade into the darkness.

"Wait, where are you going?" He began to ask. Just then the elaborately carved wooden door flew open and the desperate cries of women flooded into the wide room. Several women dressed in dull colored clothing pushed themselves inside, nearly climbing over each other in their haste. Some shouted in frustration and others sobbed out foreign words while dabbing their eyes with dirty handkerchiefs.

Luffy blinked as their eyes fell upon him all at once. Then, there was a mad scramble to pounce at him and he yelped as the women's hands seemed to stick to him no matter how hard he tried to shake them off.

"AHHH! Let me go—! Who the hell are you people!"

The women had iron holds on him and several of the other women broke off from the group, sending him glowering looks every now and then. They seemed to be discussing amongst themselves in low voices and Luffy felt his heart pound in his ribcage. When they noticed the dress in his hands, there was a collective gasp and someone snatched the article of clothing from his hands.

"Hey! Give that back!" He frowned at how roughly they treated Vivi's family artifact, "That's not yours!"

One of the women, a particularly large-sized one, put her hands on her hips and spat a few nasty sounding words at him. She raised a firm hand up, as though to slap him, and she ground out a few more angry curling words at him again.

The soft voice of the girl from before suddenly silenced all of the women. There was another collective gasp and then a great sounding sigh of words seemed to burst from each of the women all at once. Luffy watched as the young girl shook her head and smiled at them. Then, her eyes seemed to change expression and he gulped when those bright watery orbs darted towards him. He froze when he recognized the slightly mischievous glint in the girl's eyes.

W-What was with that look...? Was she not on his side?

He heard the girl speak again, but rather than pleasant it seemed to sound bordering devilish to him now. When all the women simultaneously turned to stare at him owlishly, he sent them a nervous smile. Then, when they all gave him matching smirks back, he felt sweat pour from his body.

What were they thinking...?

He felt himself lifted from under the arms and then dragged towards the open doorway.

"Hn?" Luffy grit his teeth and tried to pull his arms away from the clutches of these evil women, "Wait, where are you taking me? What's going on? What are you doing? Hey, let me go!" He turned his head back over his shoulder to see the young girl from before give him a small departing wave and sweet smile. His mouth fell open at the deceivingly innocent gesture and he struggled violently to no avail. Still unable to escape, he threw his head back and shouted with all his might, "DAMN IT, LET ME GO—-!"

The boy's cry echoed along the great stone pillars outside of the room and the soft tinkling of music from far away drowned out the rest of his screams.

.:.

Luffy was sitting slumped on a plush red velvet stool and panting breathlessly. His energy was completely spent from the past few minutes of vigorous struggling and the evil devils were now looming all over and around the small room, giving him wide grins of satisfaction. He chanced a glance into the dark stained mirror attached to a small wooden table set against one of the corners of the wall. Now that he was free from the women's steel grips and able to move as he wanted, he needed to know exactly what they had done to him.

So far, he gathered that they wanted to put him in Vivi's dress...

And they had succeeded.

For what reason, he had no idea. But there was a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach as he thought back to all the strange tickling and nasty smelling powder they had smacked all over his face and neck.

Luffy froze when he saw himself in the mirror.

"No way..." The boy sprang from his comfortable seat, puffy skirts and red ribbons rustling about him, and he lifted a hand up in an attempt to wipe away the make-up that had been smeared all over his face. "GAH, what the hell? Are you trying to make me look like a girl or something?"

Quicker than light, the women lunged at him and snatched his arms away from his face before he could touch it. His jaw fell open.

"Wha—not again! Let me go, you bastards!" He kicked his feet out, attempting to hit as many people as he could. But they merely latched onto his feet and flung off his straw sandals, substituting them with soft, ivory colored slippers with red silk patterns embroidered along the sides. "Agh! My shoes! What do you think you're—!"

One of the women grabbed his stack of clothes—along with his sandals now—and promptly chucked them all into the burning hearth. Luffy's eyes nearly popped from its sockets.

"OI! What the hell do you think you're doing to my stuff?"

The woman merely gave him a smug smile and patted her hands together as though she were patting them clean.

Great. Now his original clothes were gone. So that gave him two choices of wear: a) walk around as a girl or b) walk around naked because the witches had torn off his boxers along with his pants.

Hmm... the naked option was looking kind of good.

Then again, since he didn't know anyone here, it wouldn't hurt to pretend to be a girl...

There were probably men around the place somewhere, too, right? Then maybe he could steal their clothes later and wear those instead...?

Luffy grinned to himself inwardly. Not a bad plan! He just had to figure out a way to get away from these crazy women and then find a man. Yeah.

A rustling noise from one of the women suddenly startled him from his thoughts and Luffy turned to find the large woman from before grinning at him. She lifted up a long and black-haired wig menacingly and began creeping closer towards him. He gulped.

Oh man...

.:.

Several minutes of painful thrashing later, Luffy was now submissively following after several women—with the large woman at the front, leading. He was flanked on both sides by other women and behind him, the rest of the women trailed behind him in two neat rows. In a way, he felt like a cow being led off to the butcher house, locked tightly in place so that he had no way of escape.

Which was why he was acting so submissively at the moment.

It was all a part of his plan. First, he would be all submissive and do what they tell him to do, acting as though he had given up on running. This action would then, ideally, lead to them letting their guard down. And then that would be his chance to escape...! Inwardly, Luffy pumped a fist with resolution. Yes, he would pull this off...!

He snickered to himself quietly but then stiffened when he noticed the wary looks he was being given by the women surrounding him. His mouth fell open.

Did the plan fail already...?

The women sent him malicious smirks in return and he hung his head to the side lifelessly while letting out small pitiful whines.

Damn it! And he was being so sneaky about it, too. These women were probably psychic... How was he supposed to get away from psychic people? They could predict his every thought and next movements...!

Suddenly, he felt his foot snag onto the hem of the dress.

"Oh?" He managed to blink once in surprise before falling face forward into the marble flooring. There was a round of surprised gasps and Luffy blinked several times. Wait, this was...! His eyes widened as only one thought struck him and resounded over and over in his mind:

CHANCE!

The raven-haired boy immediately took the blessed moment and rolled to his feet. Before the women could even react, he picked up his skirts and began to sprint at full speed down a randomly picked corridor.

"Yahooo! I did it!" Luffy crowed happily as the long black tresses of his wig whipped behind him. Of course! How else to beat a psychic person than to do things that are unpredictable and spontaneous? He turned his head over his shoulder to check how far he had gotten away and smiled in satisfaction when he noticed that the women—who had been frantically chasing after him a few seconds after he had bolted—were falling farther and farther behind. He quietly thanked his brother and grandpa for all the harsh training they had put him through in the past.

When they were nearly out of sight, Luffy rounded a random corner and pat himself on the back for his cleverness. The psychic women wouldn't be able to predict where he was going because he was just letting his feet go wherever they wanted...!

At last, his feet led him to an area where the corridors were no longer walled-in corridors and were rather long hallways of open stone arches. They were all linked together around a garden-like courtyard and there was no ceiling above it. Luffy paused, inspecting the area. It was quite dark out and he could even see a sliver of a moon peeping out from black clouds hovering in the night sky. Several stars blinked faintly at him, still illuminated among the inky clouds despite the dim candle light flickering across every other archway in the hall. The scarce lighting suddenly reminded him of how he had met Zoro and he squinted at the courtyard, wondering if there was someone there as well.

"Hello?" He asked aloud and peered at the shadowy yard with bright, curious eyes. The only sound he received in return was the soft rustle of wind through the low bushes planted in the earth.

Luffy smiled. "Neehee, well this place looks like a good place to take a break," he decided on a whim and then dove out through one of the gaps in the stone arches, head-first. Breaking his landing on the grass with a brief roll, he attempted to stand up again but then realized with annoyance that the long strands of hair on his wig had become tangled in one of the growing bushes. He tugged at the locks of hair and frowned in distaste when they didn't loosen at all.

"Damn it...! Stupid wig..." He attempted to pull the wig off from his head and discard it once and for all, but then winced when he accidentally tugged his real hair. "Ow! Ow!" He whimpered lamely and held back tears of pain when he accidentally pulled out one of the small hairs close to his ears. What had those women done? It felt like they had attached the wig to his real hair or something...!

A warm hand was suddenly touching his own hand and he nearly jumped out from his skin.

"Uwah! What the...?" Luffy attempted to turn but then managed to snag off another small strand of hair, this time from the nape of his neck. He winced and pathetically stared up at the night sky. Oh no, what if he had been caught by one of the scary women...? But the sudden smooth and soothing voice of a grown man rolled out from behind him. The voice was soft, gentle, and a little too close to his ear for comfort.

So he hadn't been caught by one of those women! Even better, he now had a man whom he could 'borrow' clothes from...!

He heard several rustles from the bush behind him and then the tugging tension on his hair vanished several seconds later. Luffy smiled brightly as he was freed and he took a hop forward happily. Then he spun around on his heels and gave the man who had helped him a short bob of the head in gratitude.

"Thank you! You have no idea how much you saved me, ha ha!" He grinned at the man, who had sucked in a deep breath of air when he had turned, and then he eyed the man's clothing excitedly. Right... now it was time to get down to business. How would he get those clothes...?

Luffy studied the man standing before him carefully. He was wearing a pair of black trousers, neatly pressed, along with a striped, golden-orange waistcoat which was buttoned up over a clean white collared shirt. Over the entire ensemble, he wore a long, black tailcoat—as well as a pair of black boots—and adorned a low top hat over his silky mop of blonde hair. He was slightly taller than him so the clothes wouldn't be a perfect fit, but that wasn't too important. The man was also a bit on the lanky side so at least the clothes wouldn't be too far off from his own size either. Luffy nodded to himself in satisfaction. He caught a good one...!

The boy blinked when he realized that the man hadn't moved at all while he was inspecting him. Luffy stared at the man for a moment and then took a few steps closer. He waved a hand in front of the single visible eye on the man's face (the boy wasn't sure why the man hid his other eye under a blanket of blonde bangs but perhaps it was some kind of fashion statement) and noticed that the deep blue colored eye did not follow his hand movements. In fact, the man looked slightly fazed out in general and almost about to drool.

"Huh? What happened to you?" Luffy dropped his hand, opting to tilt his head from side to side and rub his chin thoughtfully.

Well... if the man wasn't reacting or moving...

He bopped a fist into the palm of his hand.

...then this was the perfect opportunity to steal the clothes! No resistance, right?

Luffy grinned widely and hummed as he aligned himself in front of the man eagerly. Then, without another moment's hesitation, he began unbuttoning the man's waistcoat. As he got to the third button however, the blonde's right hand suddenly clamped tightly over his hands. Luffy's head snapped up in surprise. What! So the guy _was_ still conscious after all...!

"Ah-Ahh, ~~~ ~~~~...!" Luffy heard the man begin to say and he raised an eyebrow at the disturbing sounds the blonde now emitted. An arm suddenly hooked around his waist and Luffy felt his entire body being pulled forcefully up against the other man's. What? The boy stiffened when the blonde leaned down and nuzzled his face into his neck passionately, cooing strange curling words into his ear and tickling his neck with those silky strands of hair and soft lips. Luffy paled.

What?

"H-Hey, hold on a minute...!" Luffy protested and tried to pull his neck away from the suddenly very invasive and active male. He fought to free his hands, which he managed to do so quite easily, but the man wouldn't release his hold around his waist. "O-Oi! I think you're misunderstanding something here. I was just trying to take your clothes! Not hug you or anything and—OI! Are you listening?"

The blonde pulled away for a moment just to stare into his eyes and Luffy attempted the fiercest glare he could muster at the moment. Then, he saw the man's visible eye literally spew hearts out and he found himself being held even tighter than before. "W-What the hell! Stop that...!" The boy pushed at the pervert's upper arms, trying to shove the creep away. But the hold around his waist was too strong.

What the hell was with the strength of these past people?

When the man puckered up his lips and attempted to plant a kiss on him however, that became the last straw for Luffy.

"AHHH!" He cried frantically and balled one fist up. He flung it wildly at the crazy man's face, connecting squarely with the man's eye. In the next second, he heard the man yelp in pain and he felt the hold around him loosen. Immediately, Luffy twisted his way out and wrenched himself from the other man's hands. The boy promptly lifted his skirts again and sprinted as far away from the courtyard as possible, screaming, "AHHH—-!" the entire way.

.:.

Eventually, Luffy found himself in a grandly decorated but empty hallway. He leaned against one of the polished stone walls that was decked with a suit of armor and bent over, attempting to catch his breath.

"Ngh, that was scary! ...haah... haah..." Luffy panted deeply and wiped away the sweat dripping from his forehead, "Nearly... haah... got kissed by a weirdo...! ...haah..." The boy frowned deeply as a worrisome thought struck his mind. It was surely way past the amount of time he spent in the past compared to last time... so why hadn't he returned to his own time yet?

Comparing what he had done in Zoro's time to the time he was in now, he noticed one fundamental difference: he was able to go back because he grabbed onto Zoro. Maybe he couldn't go back without being near that black-haired girl with the dress?

"...haah." Luffy let out his last puff of exhausted air and then balled a fist up, filled with undeterred determination, "Okay, then I guess I'll just find her so I can finally go back home...!" However, just as he began to pad off down the hallway again, an iron grip slammed over his shoulder.

"Huh?" He managed to voice before he noticed that the hand was coming from behind the suit of armor he had decided to rest beside. Slowly, the face of one of the scary women emerged from behind the metal armor, hissing a string of foreign words that nearly sounded like a curse. He gulped.

"Uhh..." Luffy slowly raised a hand up, "... bye!" He saluted. And with that, he attempted to dart off again. But the woman kept her grip on him and then shouted feverishly down the corridor as she was dragged across the floor by Luffy. Another woman pounced out and lunged at him, pushing him to the floor before he could do anything else.

"Gahaah—! Damn it!" Luffy cried, thrashing for all he was worth, "And I only just got away from you crazy people...!" Soon, the rest of the company of scary women reunited in the grand corridor. They surrounded him again and he peered up at them nervously as they leered down at him.

Aw man...

This time, the women hooked their hands under his arms and kept a strong hold on his shoulders, dragging him across the polished marble floors. He pouted at his predicament but then peered at his surroundings curiously when the number of candles on the walls seemed to increase in number and the arrangements of flower bouquets grew more lavish. The sound of music—a quartet of string instruments—was also becoming steadily louder as they moved and Luffy could hear the same murmurs of women and men which he had heard when he had first arrived. Occasionally, there would be breaks of laughter as well as the tapping of feet rhythmically on the stone floor. Luffy's eyes brightened.

"What's this? There's a party or something going on?" He glanced at the women securing him to their sides with an eager look and they pointedly ignored him. But the boy didn't feel bothered by their lack of response and instead smiled to himself. Where there was a party there would definitely be food...!

Finally, he was led to the edge of a doorway. The voices were quite loud now; he could tell that the party was only a few steps away, right beyond that open doorway. There were several well-dressed maidens and gentlemen strolling in and out at a relaxed pace. The wall right beside the entrance to the party was lined with several women, all chattering energetically with each other. As he approached them, he noticed that their voices suddenly grew softer. They whipped their colored fans out and he watched them bring the fans up over their mouths, continuing their foreign murmuring secretively. Their disdainful eyes would peer over the edge of their fans and then discreetly flicker towards him once in a while. He frowned at them. Somehow... he didn't like them.

But he quickly forgot his dislike for the women when he got a whiff of a mouth-watering smell. After a hasty push from behind by one of the scary women, he eagerly went inside, searching for the source of the delicious smell. His eyes locked onto a long table set aside against one wall for desserts. With another few quick glances around the room, Luffy pin-pointed several waiters carrying trays heaped with bite-sized snacks. A well-timed growl from his stomach immediately alerted the boy of his hunger and after a thorough lick of his lips, Luffy marched straight towards the waiters, ignoring the piercing looks of disgust or upturned noses as he passed by. Snatching one tray of snacks from a surprised and now empty-handed waiter, he began stuffing his face messily while making another bee-line for the dessert table. Within seconds, Luffy finished the tray and tossed it to the nearest corner of the room. Then, he sidled beside an oddly familiar person—who seemed to be clutching a bowl of chipped ice to their face—and after the briefest of looks (after all, the large array of sweets deserved at least a moment of appreciation), Luffy tucked in.

Flakes of soft crust and speckles of sugar burst forth from the table in an almost snowstorm-like puff. The people in the vicinity winced and backed away, noses crinkling up. Women's fans flapped viciously. Men's kerchiefs were lifted from their pockets. Luffy continued to stuff his face with sweets, tearing his way into one pastry like a ravaging wolf and biting into another custard puff with the ferocity of a bear. The sugar was sticking to his clothes. It was weaving a crown of sweetened dust into his wig and the bits of leftover cream were smeared messily over his cheeks. The previous robust chatter in the room was beginning to die down in favor of quiet whispers and pointed looks towards the dessert table. But Luffy paid no attention. The occupants of the room were making a wide, two meter berth away from him and still he continued his expedition. An exclamation from the person standing next to him did draw his eyes up from the table however. Somehow the voice distinctly stood out from the rest of the people...

"~~~. ~~~ ~~~~...!"

The man who had been holding a bowl of chipped ice was actually a blonde haired man with one visible eye and a curled eyebrow. The strange man was currently watching him with a delighted smile that was fast becoming one of elation. Luffy stuffed another pastry in his mouth as he stared into that one visible eye.

Who was this person agai—oh!

Oh...

Luffy's chewing began to slow. Then, he nearly spat the food from his mouth as it fell open. "You again?" The boy pointed accusingly at the blonde, "Why the heck are you here!" The creeper responded by throwing out his arms and lunging for Luffy with exuberant cries of curling words. Luffy managed to elbow the man in the face. However, the man would not give up and caught him around the waist again. The boy grunted in a massive effort to shove away the blonde, "Get off of me!" But the man's fingers would not relent. He also began to speak again.

"~~! ~~~~!"

A collective intake of air came from the circle of people after his short statement. Luffy grit his teeth in irritation but paused to give the people surrounding him a quick and confused, "Hn?"

Suddenly, an elaborate door from one wall burst open and a gentle, yet firm voice chimed from the new entrance. Another collective gasp erupted from the crowd and people were glancing back and forth from him to the door, confused looks across their faces. Luffy craned his neck around and managed to glimpse the person standing in the doorway. His eyes widened. It was that girl he first met...! She was still wearing that same dress—the very same one he was wearing now, in fact—and she was pointing towards him with an authoritative stance. Luffy's eyes lit up.

This was it! His chance to get back home! All he had to do... was somehow get out of this guy's arms and then make a grab for that girl. Just one tap would do. It would be just like with Zoro...! Luffy began to twist in the blonde's arms, mustering up all the energy he could to wrench himself away. The blonde blinked in surprise when Luffy began to pull apart his arms by strength alone. His eyes narrowed in a confused manner and he began applying more pressure to his hold to keep Luffy from running again. But from the look of dismay in the man's eyes, Luffy knew that he couldn't keep him trapped for long. The boy grinned toothily. No way was he letting this guy hold him down when his ticket back home was so close...!

With a series of short and snappy twists, he finally thrust the blonde away and immediately made a head-long dash for the girl. There were only a few seconds to finish it; somehow he had that feeling. The girl's eyes went round in surprise as he locked gazes with her. Then, a nostalgic feeling came flooding into his body. His stomach was beginning to drop...

...and the walls were stretching.

"What the—?" Luffy froze and blinked at his surroundings. The people in the party had all ceased to exist and he was standing in the elongating room, all by himself. He was starting to return? But he hadn't even reached the girl yet...

Did that mean the key to returning home had nothing to do with touching the owner of the item...?

Luffy rubbed his chin thoughtfully and frowned up into the lights which were beginning to slowly whirl together.

"I really don't get this power..."

"Haah... ~~~?"

Another voice joined his own and Luffy turned to look over his shoulder. Hn? Why was there a man's voice coming from—

It was that guy.

Luffy's eyes bulged and he began to splutter, "W-Why the hell are you here?" The man had one hand around his arm, still in the position as though he had just reached out to make a grab for him.

But before Luffy could receive a response, the entire space they were standing in made a sickening bouncing motion and he suddenly found himself feeling as though he were being pulled backwards at a quickly accelerating pace. He heard the blonde make a noise of fright—something that sounded like a hybrid between a gulp and yelp—which quickly morphed into screams of terror. Luffy closed his eyes against the sudden brightening of colors, screaming along with the man, just for the hell of it. This was actually becoming kind of fun...

Along the way, his screams became riddled with loud peals of laughter as the blonde clung to him with all his might.

.:.

"So... according to this," Vivi lifted the piece of digital paper to her eyes for a fifth time, "We should expect the arrival of a duke...?"

Usopp nodded from his comfy cross-legged position in Luffy's red couch and pushed up his goggles, "Yeah, I checked it over again. Everything's right. Trust my translating skills!" He smiled, an eager gleam in his eyes, "Also, it's not just any duke. Take a look at this...!" The long-nosed boy pulled up his touch screen computer and passed it up to Vivi, who was leaning over from behind the couch. She read over the page Usopp had on the screen and a smile lit up her lips.

"Oh! Isn't this, _The Little Red Fairy_? I used to ask my mom to read it to me every night because I loved it so much." Vivi's neat eyebrows furrowed together, "But what does it have to do with Luffy bringing back a duke...? Wait, it can't be...?"

Usopp snickered to himself and pointed at the digital paper, "I guess you've figured it out, right? Luffy's the Little Red Fairy."

Vivi's mouth fell open. "No, that can't be...! I mean, in the fairy tale, the Little Red Fairy sacrifices himself to make the evil prince disappear and saves the princess from joining in a loveless marriage. And then, doesn't the Little Red Fairy say that he'd always be there, protecting her, but then vanishes and never appears before the princess ever again? And... wait..."

"Luffy's the Little Red Fairy, Vivi."

The blue-haired girl bit her bottom lip, suddenly unable to accept this piece of information. "But... isn't _The Little Red Fairy_ just a fairy tale?"

Usopp smiled knowingly and swiped the screen once before tapping on an icon. A computer window revolved around and the boy pointed at it. "Here. I just did some more research and found that _The Little Red Fairy_ is actually kind of based on history, not some made-up story. Well, rather than history, I guess you could say a historical figure. You see the name and signature down there?" He nodded to the folded paper he had been translating for the past hour, "That's Queen Yutelia's mark—I was surprised when I recognized it... But yeah, she's the first queen to ever rule over Yinnan. And she's really cool, you know? Never married. And I guess we kind of know why now... if this letter is addressed to Luffy."

Vivi gaped at the old paper lying on the table, delicately placed under a piece of digitalized film. "So... wait, this Queen Yutelia is the princess in the story who was helped by the Little Red Fairy?"

"Yep," Usopp snorted, "And history doesn't really mention the part that happens in The Little Red Fairy but... they do mention a particular Duke of Chentley that Queen Yutelia was arranged to marry while she was still a princess. Guess what happened to this duke?"

Vivi sighed and handed the touch screen back to Usopp, "He mysteriously disappeared?"

"Yep! History explains that he eloped with a peasant woman. He was kind of a, ahh, well let's just say it was difficult for him to settle down with just one woman. Anyway, we know what _really_ happened. Or at least, what's about to happen. Do you know what this means...?"

Vivi raised an eyebrow at the sudden signs of glee rising in the long-nosed boy's voice.

"What?"

"We pretty much have the missing piece that connects all the unexplainable loose ends between Queen Yutelia, the Duke's disappearance, and the famous fairy tale, _The Little Red Fairy_!" Usopp gestured towards the little scrap of aged paper sitting on Luffy's slightly sticky table. His hands shook, barely able to contain his excitement. "Do you know how cool this is? History is still moving right before our eyes!"

Vivi gave the boy an unimpressed look. But then she let out a soft noise of laughter and then giggled brightly. "This _is_ quite cool. Although it does ruin my image of the Little Red Fairy now that I know that Luffy was the one who saved the princess... I bet what actually happened was nothing like the fairy tale..."

Usopp snorted, "He probably left the place in chaos... running around in his weird clothes and making people chase after him because he stole all the food in the kitchen."

Vivi laughed, eyes tearing up from the image, "Yeah!" She wiped at her eyes, "And if Luffy's the Little Red Fairy, that means he's bringing back the evil prince, isn't he? Oh wait, no, it's the evil duke, right? Not prince. Anyway, I bet the duke was holding food or something and then Luffy lunged at him. And now they'll be coming back any second now...!"

"Yeah! That totally happened! Haha...!" Usopp chortled loudly. The two both broke off and stared at each other. "Wait... evil...?"

"What's going on?" Franky voiced in a distracted manner from his spot on the floor. He was immersed in a circle of glowing blue trays, all heaped with Vivi's family artifacts, and slowly inspecting each piece with care. Usopp and Vivi stared at each other and then turned to give Franky a silent and slightly perturbed look. A loud snore from Zoro punctuated the stillness in an abnormally well-timed way and suddenly, a resounding air-sucking _pop!_ split through the room accompanied by loud screaming and laughter.

"Luffy...!" The trio exclaimed in relief as they heard their friend's familiar laughter. Thank goodness he was alright...! And he was looking pretty healthy, too, even with an evil—and rather terrified—duke hanging around his waist as though the boy were his lifeline and... wait.

They did a double take.

"LUFFY?"

"L-L-Luffy, what happened...!" Vivi's concerned voice came stammering out.

"Hn? Oh!" The boy finally seemed to notice his return and a blinding smile immediately split across his lips, "Vivi! Usopp! Franky! I'm back, guys! You have no idea how glad I am to be back. Where's Zoro? This weirdo came with me, too."

The addressed weirdo tensed instinctively, his visible eye darting from point to point, corner to corner, and place to place. However, he seemed to be adjusting to the intense shift in surroundings moderately well. The blonde had already quieted and was now studying the room in almost fascination. But then, his gaze flickered towards Franky and Usopp. His eye immediately grew sharp and wary; his hold around Luffy grew tighter.

Now roused by all the disturbances, Zoro let out a grunt and scowled before slowly opening his eyes. He raised an eyebrow at the two new strangers standing in the middle of the room, one with long black hair and wearing a lacy red dress; the other a blonde with odd clothes. Giving the woman (?) a long and suspicious glance, he suddenly blinked in surprise and then barely held back a laugh, nearly choking himself. The green-haired man looked again and then, unable to hold himself back any longer, erupted into full-blown laughter. He doubled over, hardly able to keep himself straight up, and one of his hands flew to his stomach to try and dull the pain from having laughed too much all of a sudden.

Hearing Zoro's laughter, Luffy turned and grinned mischievously. "Neehee! Zoro knows that it's me, right? Is it that funny?" His response from the swordsman was several thigh slaps and another round of uncontrollable laughter. Perhaps Zoro even shed a few tears. Luffy laughed together with the swordsman and began to make all sorts of faces to elicit more chuckles from his friend.

Franky smoothed a hand over his blue hair in repetitive motions and his sunglasses slipped from his eyes, down the bridge of his nose. He stared at Luffy, dumbfounded.

"He was holding that same dress before, wasn't he? But he's wearing it now... And even with long hair...? Uhh, you think maybe time is passing faster for Luffy than for us when he jumps...?"

Usopp shook his head slowly back and forth, equally dumbfounded. "I... have no idea. I don't understand at all..."

Vivi held back a graceless snort, immediately drawing the attentions of the two males. She lifted one hand up to signal for them to wait, the other covered over her mouth to stifle her laugh, and then she began to giggle hesitantly. "Sorry... just... it really is kind of funny to see Luffy wearing a dress." The girl gave them an apologetic and slightly ashamed shrug.

Franky and Usopp glanced at their raven-haired friend, all dressed up in a puffy red dress, and then they let out spurts of laughter as well.

"Heh! Whoever got him into it must've been really strong, too. Luffy's not the type to give in without one really really long fight...!" Franky chortled.

"Yeah! And imagine if the person who got him in that dress was the Duke! Wouldn't that be so crazy?" Usopp added in through several peals of laughter. The laughter escalated between the trio at the sudden image of Luffy being forcefully stuffed into a dress by the Duke of Chentley. But their mirth quickly died down and the image began to sink in. Their eyes simultaneously shot towards the blonde.

"Luffy said he was a weirdo, right...? And Usopp, you said he had a reputation of being a playboy, right?" Vivi questioned curiously, voice lowering to a whisper. "But surely he wouldn't...? I mean... to _Luffy_?" The two males didn't answer and they continued to study the blonde closely. At the moment, the man seemed to be training his one eye on Zoro unblinkingly and a deep scowl was quickly etching its way into his face. His hands hadn't left Luffy since their arrival.

Usopp squeaked when the hatred spewing from the duke's eye seemed to intensify when Zoro made a motion for Luffy to come closer.

"He looks angry...!"

Franky frowned and flicked his sunglasses back up to his eyes. "Let's just see him try anything..."

Zoro's uncontrollable laughter seemed to be finally coming to an end. "Haah..." He let out a sigh and then gave another small chuckle when Luffy began to walk closer while swishing his skirts playfully. Suddenly, instead of swishing skirts, he was staring straight into a foreign eye which seemed to be emitting a fierce killing intent. The blonde duke had pulled Luffy behind him, fully blocking him from view to the best of his ability, and Luffy peered over the man's shoulder curiously, asking a brief and confused, "What the...?"

"Hn?" The green-haired swordsman voiced in irritation, not liking the look he was receiving from this new stranger at all. Zoro's hands moved to his swords, sensing the waves of killing intent billowing out in steadily growing intervals from the blonde. He might attack him at any moment. But instead of attacking him, as Zoro was prepared for, the blonde only seemed to give him a scrutinizing look—first leaning annoyingly close and then backing away with a faint look of disgust and pretentiousness in his eye. Zoro scowled and flicked at the sword guard of one of his swords warningly.

The blonde in turn, sent him an almost shit-eating grin and coolly pulled Luffy around by the waist, drawing their bodies close to each other. Luffy began to scowl now as well and he slammed a palm into the duke's face to force it away. "Hey! What the hell, haven't I thrown you off enough times already? Let me go, you bastard!" One foot also rose up to dig painfully into the duke's abdomen, but the blonde stubbornly held on.

Zoro froze, face suddenly turning to one of round-eyed confusion and almost dumbfounded wonder. His hand was still on his swords but he made no motion to draw it.

Franky and Usopp's mouths were hanging open, eyes bulging at the sight. Vivi blushed, cheeks stained a bright pink.

And then Zoro pointed an index finger at the pair before falling over backwards and laughing the loudest as of yet. The occupants stared at the green-haired swordsman in mild surprise. But then Luffy quickly erupted into chortles, infected by Zoro's unbridled laughter.

"Zoro's lost it..." Usopp muttered in disbelief. Franky shook his head.

"He ain't the only one who's lost it. Look."

Vivi and Usopp followed Franky's gaze to the blonde duke. The man was seething. They could see it in his eye, in his face, in his posture. There was barely enough time for them to gasp before the blonde suddenly launched himself at Zoro, who—as though expecting it—had immediately jumped up with an unsheathed sword. There was an angry clash of metal against boot and Luffy let out a loud, 'ooh', of awe at the incredible energy suddenly pulsating throughout the room. The two men gnashed foreheads against each other, each growling out low sentences in their mother tongue. Fast staccato against crisp cursive. The words seemed to spur their anger on even more and they flung apart only to clash again after a volley of blows.

"Woahoh... so he's actually pretty good!" Luffy exclaimed, observing the fight while clapping his hands together excitedly. "He kicks! So cool...!"

"Heh, not a bad fight at all." Franky smirked and crossed his arms over his chest, "They've both got pretty good control, ah? Real masters of their art."

Usopp's head fell into his hands and he cried through clenched teeth, "...Luuuffyyy—-! Stop bringing over scary people from the past...!" Vivi had an uneasy smile pasted to her face and she nudged Usopp from the side urgently.

"Do you think you can try to calm them down? Since you can translate into Pictorian and all... As controlled as they are, if it starts to get out of hand... I really don't think Luffy can handle a new hole in the wall in addition to his already broken door..."

"R-Right..." Usopp began shakily, "Well... I, erm... haven't spoken Pictorian in a while but... it's something only I can do... r-right?"

"Yes... I leave it to you, then." Vivi clamped a hand over the long-nosed boy's shoulder. Usopp gulped and began mutter to himself in an almost neurotic manner, planning out every single method of running away after attempting to speak Pictorian to the blonde duke.

As the battle raged on in a very obvious stalemate, and as Usopp continued to hesitate about interrupting the two, Vivi glanced towards Luffy to check how he was doing. She let out a soft, 'ah!' and bopped a fist into one palm. Right, there were some things that Luffy needed to know...! She plucked up the piece of digital paper where Usopp had written down the translated version of Queen Yutelia's letter and cautiously made her way to Luffy, who seemed to be inching closer and closer to the fight at every second.

"Luffy...!" The blue-haired girl called out, gaining the boy's attention for a second.

"Oh! Vivi!" He grinned, "Did you know? People from the past are super strong!"

"O-Oh, well... I see..." Vivi blinked a few times, inspecting her friend over carefully. Odd. For Luffy to say something like that, he must have been in some strange circumstances indeed... She could ask him for more details later. But for now, while the memory was still fresh in his mind, she should show him the letter from Queen Yutelia. Vivi cleared her throat and lifted up the digital paper, "Look at this, Luffy."

"Nngh?" He made a distracted noise and glanced from the paper to the fight and back again.

"Usopp translated it from Pictorian. We think it fell out of the dress when you left."

"Ohh?" Luffy took a closer look at the writing and knit his eyebrows together in concentration. He frowned. "Why are there so many words..."

Vivi sighed, "Just read it, Luffy. It's written to you..." The boy scratched his head a few times, then glanced down at the paper again:

_My dear and mysterious angel from the future,_

_It has been forty years since I last saw you. I do confess that I have thought of you more often than is necessary during these past four decades. It is all still so clear; when you came to me, you spoke in your elven tongue that neither I nor the waiting ladies could understand. It was shocking at first, and I do regret not treating you better while we still had time together; I would have liked to have watched you for longer. But the dress you wielded in your hands, the very one I wore on that fated day; I knew that you were an angel from the future. I did not have the chance to thank you for what you have done for me. It was all so very abrupt. And you may never know how much spiriting that man away from my country has meant to me; however I hope this letter will reach you, even if only by heart. You are an angel of time, are you not? That is the conclusion I have drawn up within these several years of aimless thinking. And with this note sewn to the inside of the dress we shared, I hold onto the hope that you will find and receive my gratitude and many thoughts that come with it, whether it be in tangible form or spirit. There is something that I still cannot understand. With the power to enter time yet not once have you appeared in the country again. Do you know of the expeditions every year undertaken, the sole and secret goal to seek any trace of you out? I know that I may not have longer now... but perhaps, just once more, if we were to meet? Will you remember me, I pray?_

_I send you all my blessings and good wishes, my dear friend._

_May this letter find you well,_

_Yutelia of Yinnan, or as you knew me, Amelia of Rosinburgh._

_September 2nd, Year 356._

Vivi looked towards Luffy expectantly. It was a rather sweet letter. But from the blank look on the boy's face, she knew that he couldn't grasp the subtleties of the letter at all.

"I don't know who this... oh wait, it's the devil-girl?" Vivi raised an eyebrow at the nickname. What could have happened to him to give Queen Yutelia that kind of name...? After a second, Vivi saw a small smile lift the corners of Luffy's lips. "Shi shi, so devil-girl wasn't that bad either! That's good. Everything was all just a big misunderstanding."

A smile spread across Vivi's lips as she watched her friend grin. Although she wasn't sure what had happened to him, at least it seemed like Luffy was somehow looking happier after reading the letter.

"AAAGHH—-NOOOO!" An ear shattering shriek suddenly burst forth from the center of the room and the two immediately whipped their heads up. Usopp was shaking so badly from head to foot that he almost looked like he had been caught on tape and played from a broken TV screen. He had his hands up in front of him defensively as the blonde duke gripped onto his collar viciously. The man seemed to be growling out low sentences in very rapid Pictorian and Usopp's eyes were whirling from trying to keep up with the translating.

"What happened?" Vivi gasped, hands jumping up to her mouth. She noticed Zoro standing only a few feet away, swords now in a relaxed position and an expression of bewilderment across his face. Luffy frowned and began marching forward to give the blonde a piece of his mind. But Franky was already one step ahead and he slapped a heavy hand over the duke's shoulder, who turned to glare fiercely at him.

"Oi. If you lay a hand on my bro like that, I won't be letting you off easy. Get what I mean?" The blue-haired man flicked down his sunglasses, giving the duke a long and hard stare. Usopp laughed nervously and hastily mumbled a few foreign words. The blonde's eyes widened and his head whirled around, pulling Usopp closer.

"AH?" The blonde exclaimed at the long-nosed boy with a deep scowl etched across his lips.

"Eeeek! N-No, I meant, '~~~~~! ~~ ~~~~!' Understand?"

The duke paused, grip slowly loosening on Usopp as the ferocious look in his eyes turned to one of mild surprise. Then, they narrowed again. A jumble of questions flew from his mouth and Usopp gulped.

"Um... ~~~~. And, uhh... oh! ~~~~~! ~~~~~~ Luf—ah, I mean, ~~~~~. Okay...?"

The blonde blinked. Then he scowled and gave Usopp a deadpan look.

"... ~~~~."

Usopp felt a vein in his head rush with blood and he angrily spat out a quick, "HEY!" The four outsiders looked from between the duke and the boy curiously and Franky rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

"What the hell did he say?"

Usopp's eyes snapped towards Franky and his mouth formed an 'o' in surprise before answering. "Right, uhh... I just basically explained to him that he's in the future and that he got here because of Luffy... but... he said that I spoke shitty Pictorian..." The long-nosed boy mumbled the last part out and almost pouted.

Luffy took a step forward eagerly, hands balled up together.

"That's so cool, Usopp! You can speak weird-brow's language!"

After hearing that, Usopp immediately brightened and swiped a finger under his nose self-importantly. "Heh heh, now you finally appreciate how awesome I am, don't you! Bow down to the Great Usopp of Forty Languages!"

"So cool...!" Luffy's eyes shone in glee for a second before his eyes shifted to the side in contemplation, "Hmm... but too bad you can't speak Zoro-language though."

"It's Nironese...! The name isn't that hard to remember, geez!"

"Hm? ~~~? ~~~~~~..." The blonde suddenly spoke again, turning to stare at Usopp pointedly. A visible line of sweat ran down Usopp's head and he laughed uncertainly. With a few hesitant words in Pictorian, the long-nosed boy pointed a finger in Luffy's direction and the duke stared blankly at Luffy before turning to scowl deeply at Usopp. "~~~~~~! ~~~~!"

Usopp's eyes went round. Then, he planted his face into the palm of his hand. Luffy watched the interaction between the two and asked excitedly, "What? What? Why did you point at me? What did he say?"

The long-nosed boy let out a drawn out sigh before looking up at his friend. "Um... well... he thinks you're a girl. I just told him that you're a guy, but he won't believe me."

"W-Whaat—-?" Luffy spluttered and turned to the blonde with eyes filled with disbelief, "Is he crazy? I don't look that much like a girl, do I?"

Vivi giggled, "You don't look too bad, actually..."

Franky sent him a teasing grin, "Don't worry. Just because you look kind of girly now, it doesn't make you less of a man."

Luffy pouted at his friends, "Franky...! Vivi! You—! … Zoro!" He turned to the green-haired swordsman, who had just drifted off to sleep beside the red couch. Luffy hopped towards the man and then prodded him awake, "Zoro! Zorooo!" The swordsman woke with an irritated grunt but still gave Luffy a raise of an eyebrow to show that he was listening. "Do I look like a girl to you?" The boy asked seriously, eyes boring into Zoro's. The man scratched his head for a second, then yawned and began to close his eyes again. Luffy's entire demeanor lit up like the lights on Christmas Eve. He grinned and sprang at Zoro with open arms, earning him another annoyed grunt which he pointedly ignored as he hugged him. "Yay! Zoro's my new best friend...! He's the only one who's not crazy!"

Usopp stared at the pair blankly. "I still don't get how those two are able to understand each other..."

Vivi nodded in agreement. "I'm starting to understand what you meant by that..."

"Uh, guys?" Franky interrupted briefly and they both turned towards him, "Might want to watch out. Our duke looks like he's about to lose it again..."

Usopp slapped his hands over his cheeks and his head spun towards the blonde, "Oh yeah! Shit! He just saw Luffy hug Zoro, didn't he! And he still thinks Luffy's the girl of his dreams!"

"W-What?" Vivi stuttered, watching the blonde stalking closer and closer to Luffy and Zoro at a menacing pace, "Girl of his dreams? You didn't say anything about that before...!"

"Well I didn't know either until just now! He just told me a few seconds ago...!" His eyes suddenly grew round as he spotted the duke seemingly spew fire from his head, "Oh god, Luffy! H-H-He's right behind you guys...! T-Tell him you're a guy already, he won't listen to me!"

"Nn?" Luffy looked up to see an angry yet teary-eyed duke staring back down at him in frustration. The boy let out a short, 'hmph,' before picking himself up—away from the already slumbering Zoro—and dusting off his skirts. "Fine, since you're so stupid..." He fisted his hands into the lacy red skirts and started to raise them, "Look, weird-brows! I'm a man! I have a di—!" But before he could finish his sentence—or his actions—he was tackled to the floor by his three friends. Luffy groaned from having banged his head against the floor under the combined weights of Franky, Usopp, and Vivi, and he sat straight up, rubbing the area he knew was sure to bruise in a few minutes. "OW! What the hell was that for?"

"Luffy, you idiot! Are you trying to scar a man for life?" Usopp shrieked into his ears. Vivi held back the urge to throw her hands around Luffy's neck and choke him to death.

"I can't believe you almost did that! How can you be so stupid? I don't want to see that...!"

"None of us wants to see that...!" Franky added, eyes bulging and angry red veins clearly visible against his white pupils.

Luffy merely pouted at them and dug a pinky finger into his ear, "Then what do you want me to do? He's not getting it!"

"GO CHANGE!" The trio bellowed simultaneously.

Luffy shrank a little.

Then, he smiled.

"Oh...!"

.:.

The blonde duke gaped at the sight before him, making strange, 'ah... ah... ah...?' noises with a bent index finger raised up into the air hesitantly.

Luffy put his hands sternly on his hips and then sent the blonde a blinding grin. With Vivi's help, he was finally able to get the dress and wig off without significant damage to either him or the dress. And now, he was donning his usual set of red vest and blue jeans.

"Get it now? I'm a man, stupid!"

"~~~? ~~~~!" The blonde glanced towards Usopp with round eyes but the long-nosed boy merely nodded solemnly and he quickly sketched out a picture of Luffy in his previous apparel on his computer. Lifting the picture up, he tapped it and then pointed at Luffy to indicate that they were the same person. The blonde duke took a step backward, one hand coming up to clutch at his chest, and he shook his head repetitively, unable to accept the truth.

Vivi watched the man sympathetically. "I kind of feel bad for him..."

"Don't be," Franky shrugged, "He's just stupid."

"~~~!" They heard him exclaim again before he shakily pointed towards the picture and then to Luffy. They all nodded. Within a split second, the blonde duke had collapsed to the ground, pounding a fist on the floorboards in frustration. He took another glance at Luffy and then suddenly, they found him curled up beside the couch, sobbing quietly in a fetal position.

Luffy chortled at the sight. "Haha! He's kind of funny...!"

"Luffy...!" Vivi scolded the boy and shook her head. She moved to the duke and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, "How could you laugh at him? You just broke his heart..."

"Uhh..." Usopp started, "I don't think—"

The blonde sniffed and looked up at Vivi. And then suddenly, hearts seemed to burst from his eye and he clutched onto Vivi's hand, nuzzling it with his cheek while murmuring sweet nothings that only Usopp could understand. The blue-haired girl froze on her feet, utterly astounded by the man's quick recovery, and Usopp slapped his forehead again. Luffy laughed.

"Shi shi shi, what a weird guy!"

.:.

**Special Translations from Usopp – "What Sanji Hears" :**

"S-Stop fighting!"

"WHAT? Who the hell are you?"

"AAAARRRGHHH—-NOOOO!"

"You just said, 'Stop fighting,' didn't you? Who the hell are you! And where am I? This looks nothing like the castle... how did I get here? And what happened back then? Was it magic, you bastard? Take me back! I was about to get married to the angel of my dreams!"

"Oi. —-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-. —-—-—-—-—?"

"Eh...heh heh... umm, this is pineapple triumph sauce..."

"AH?"

"Eeeek! —-—, 'You in the future! The future!' —?"

"What...? The future...? But how! This... can't be...! Although... this place does look nothing like my time period... never seen anything like this... How far into the future am I?"

"Umm... been about four hundred years. And, uhh... oh! You in different country! You here is because Luf—ah, I mean, because the guy you holding onto while you transported here. —?"

"...You speak shitty Pictorian."

"HEY!"

.:.

**AN: Next chapter will be Nami's debut...! And more experiments involving Luffy's newly discovered abilities.**


End file.
